Genetic Impact and Its Potential Impact on the Family

Susan Zinner, Indiana University Northwest

Perhaps no area of bioethics is more fraught with the potential for conflicting obligations and competing ethical principles than when parents, providers, family members, and the community must confront the potential genetic enhancement of a child. That is, will giving birth to children with genetically desired characteristics change, or possibly harm, the relationships between parents and children, among siblings, between parents, and even within jurisdictions? Further, should we treat genetic changes designed to enhance individual health differently from genetic changes designed to affect future generations?